Gathering Stories at Rock Bend

Kathryn and I spent the weekend at the Rock Bend Folk Festival, in our 600 Words booth. We invited people to sit with a pad of paper and a pen and tell us their story.

Many people asked what we plan to do with the stories we collect. To be honest, we aren't sure. This is an ever-evolving project. We displayed some at the festival, we have published some on this blog, we have a Facebook page, and we have talked to Ann at the Art Center about an exhibit in the spring. We have lots of ideas but in the end, the simple act of asking people to tell us their stories might be the most important thing.

We had interesting reactions to our invitation. Some people sat right down, almost made a bee-line for a chair, as if they knew they had something to say. Some stood for a few moments, thinking, before they sat down to write. Some were reluctant to write but tapped their foreheads and said they would think about it. Some were reluctant to write but told us a story instead. Wonderful, all of it.

At the end of the day when all the stuff from our booth was safely stowed, we sat down at the kitchen table with a glass of wine to unpack the story box. There were more than we thought...more than thirty. We each took a pile and we began to read them out loud. We laughed out loud, we wept, we sat in stunned silence. We were truly amazed that people sat right in front of us, in the sunshine, telling us these deeply personal stories.

I was surprised that in many cases, people reached down into their dark and private places to tell us about a house fire, a divorce, a spouse in prison, the death of a grandparent, embarrassing moments from childhood, being called to the office at school to hear of the death of a parent in a car accident. We had goosebumps many times.

I wrote a couple Facebook posts about the sacred feeling of hearing people tell their stories. Once I looked back and though, maybe I am over-reaching, attaching too much meaning and feeling to something simple. But looking back, I don't think so. It is a sacred thing, the sharing of our lives deepest moments through writing.